Cognitive
Meditating on Those Sunk Costs
February 19, 2014
The sunk-cost fallacy leads to all sorts of poor decision-making — like staying too long at a bad job or refusing to drop out of a hopeless mayoral campaign. Here’s how Dubner explained it in our podcast on quitting: A “sunk cost” is just what it sounds like: time or money you’ve already spent. The sunk-cost fallacy is when you tell yourself that you can’t quit because of all that time or money you spent. We shouldn’t fall for this fallacy, but we do it all the time. But there’s...
February 19, 2014
The sunk-cost fallacy leads to all sorts of poor decision-making — like staying too long at a bad job or refusing to drop out of a hopeless mayoral campaign. Here’s how Dubner explained it in our podcast on quitting: A “sunk cost” is just what it sounds like: time or money you’ve already spent. The sunk-cost fallacy is when you tell yourself that you can’t quit because of all that time or money you spent. We shouldn’t fall for this fallacy, but we do it all the time. But there’s...
The Myth of Cognitive Decline: Elderly Know More and Use it Better
February 16, 2014
Linguistic experts argue in new research that people’s brains do not slow down with age, but actually show the benefits of experience. Tests that had previously been taken to show cognitive decline as people age, they maintain, are actually showing the effects of having more information to process. The linguists, from the German University of Tübingen, publish their findings in the journal Topics in Cognitive Science (Ramscar et al., 2014). While accepting that physiological diseases...
February 16, 2014
Linguistic experts argue in new research that people’s brains do not slow down with age, but actually show the benefits of experience. Tests that had previously been taken to show cognitive decline as people age, they maintain, are actually showing the effects of having more information to process. The linguists, from the German University of Tübingen, publish their findings in the journal Topics in Cognitive Science (Ramscar et al., 2014). While accepting that physiological diseases...
Be Careful While You Sleep – Dreams Affect Mood the Next Day
February 15, 2014
Dylan Selterman and his colleagues asked 61 undergrads (aged 17-42; 47 women) to keep detailed, morning dream diaries for two weeks. Each evening the participants also kept records of what they'd been up to in the day, including their relations with their partner. Having a partner of at least six months duration was a requirement for taking part in the research. Overall, last night's dream content was associated with the ensuing day's behaviour in ways you'd expect. Dreaming last night of being...
February 15, 2014
Dylan Selterman and his colleagues asked 61 undergrads (aged 17-42; 47 women) to keep detailed, morning dream diaries for two weeks. Each evening the participants also kept records of what they'd been up to in the day, including their relations with their partner. Having a partner of at least six months duration was a requirement for taking part in the research. Overall, last night's dream content was associated with the ensuing day's behaviour in ways you'd expect. Dreaming last night of being...
13 Milliseconds: The Incredible Speed at Which Your Brain Can Identify an Image
February 15, 2014
A new study has brought the estimate of how fast you can process an image down to an incredible 13 milliseconds. The new study, conducted by MIT researchers and published in the journal Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, used everyday images such as of picnics and smiling couples (Potter et al., 2013). Previous research by Professor Mary Potter and colleagues had found it takes one-tenth of a second for images to be processed.
February 15, 2014
A new study has brought the estimate of how fast you can process an image down to an incredible 13 milliseconds. The new study, conducted by MIT researchers and published in the journal Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, used everyday images such as of picnics and smiling couples (Potter et al., 2013). Previous research by Professor Mary Potter and colleagues had found it takes one-tenth of a second for images to be processed.
Don’t Overthink Your Credibility Assessments
February 11, 2014
When it comes to assessing someone's believability and deciding whether they're lying to you or not, which works best: your quick "gut" intuition or more sustained and careful thought about it? It turns out, the answer is "neither." Immediate choices, as well as decisions made after longer deliberation, are both less reliable than judgments rendered after turning our minds away to focus on another task. This finding of a recent study (Reinhard, Greifeneder, & Scharmach 2013) suggests that unconscious...
February 11, 2014
When it comes to assessing someone's believability and deciding whether they're lying to you or not, which works best: your quick "gut" intuition or more sustained and careful thought about it? It turns out, the answer is "neither." Immediate choices, as well as decisions made after longer deliberation, are both less reliable than judgments rendered after turning our minds away to focus on another task. This finding of a recent study (Reinhard, Greifeneder, & Scharmach 2013) suggests that unconscious...
Fielding a ‘Moneyball’ Compliance Program
February 7, 2014
“There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us.” - Brad Pitt, as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, in “Moneyball” All compliance professionals, even those who have never even seen a baseball game, can learn something from the 2011 Brad Pitt film “Moneyball”—the true story about how in 2002 the struggling Oakland Athletics team made more with less. And won. A lot. You have to actually see the movie or, even better,...
February 7, 2014
“There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us.” - Brad Pitt, as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, in “Moneyball” All compliance professionals, even those who have never even seen a baseball game, can learn something from the 2011 Brad Pitt film “Moneyball”—the true story about how in 2002 the struggling Oakland Athletics team made more with less. And won. A lot. You have to actually see the movie or, even better,...
10 Most Awe-Inspiring Neuroscience Studies
February 6, 2014
1. Connectivity: The Difference Between Men’s and Women’s Brains 2. Hidden Caves in the Brain Open Up During Sleep to Wash Away Toxins 3. Debunked: ‘Right-Brain’ and ‘Left-Brain’ Personalities 4. Like to Stay Up Late? Different Neural Structures Found in the Brains of Night Owls 5. Remote Control of the Mind – Over the Internet 6. Brain Ultrasound: How Sound Waves Can Boost Mood 7. Social Rejection Triggers Release of Natural Painkillers in the Brain 8. The...
February 6, 2014
1. Connectivity: The Difference Between Men’s and Women’s Brains 2. Hidden Caves in the Brain Open Up During Sleep to Wash Away Toxins 3. Debunked: ‘Right-Brain’ and ‘Left-Brain’ Personalities 4. Like to Stay Up Late? Different Neural Structures Found in the Brains of Night Owls 5. Remote Control of the Mind – Over the Internet 6. Brain Ultrasound: How Sound Waves Can Boost Mood 7. Social Rejection Triggers Release of Natural Painkillers in the Brain 8. The...
The Brain “Sees” Objects That You Don’t Perceive
February 5, 2014
Consider The Impact of All of The "Little Things" That Go On During A Mediation I love reading science research and articles on Sundays to try and expand my knowledge. Plus, it gives me new words to look up on my iPhone's Dictionary.com app as there are often words I don't know their meaning included in the research articles. This also allows me the opportunity to connect the research with my conflict resolution practice and reflect on its impact within our field. One great site to visit is the PsyBlog-...
February 5, 2014
Consider The Impact of All of The "Little Things" That Go On During A Mediation I love reading science research and articles on Sundays to try and expand my knowledge. Plus, it gives me new words to look up on my iPhone's Dictionary.com app as there are often words I don't know their meaning included in the research articles. This also allows me the opportunity to connect the research with my conflict resolution practice and reflect on its impact within our field. One great site to visit is the PsyBlog-...
Not One of Us
February 3, 2014
When deciding how to best resolve the case you’re handling, there are any number of factors going into the equation. One worth considering is how your client (or even an important witness) will be perceived unconsciously by a judge of jury. Might there be some irrational, unconscious aversion based on his or her looks? Could the client be perceived as an outsider, someone not part of the community? If so, that should be part of the calculations you need to make. Negotiation and mediation...
February 3, 2014
When deciding how to best resolve the case you’re handling, there are any number of factors going into the equation. One worth considering is how your client (or even an important witness) will be perceived unconsciously by a judge of jury. Might there be some irrational, unconscious aversion based on his or her looks? Could the client be perceived as an outsider, someone not part of the community? If so, that should be part of the calculations you need to make. Negotiation and mediation...
Speeding Up Settlement With a Predictive App
February 1, 2014
Associate general counsel Mary Brennan Stitch credited a piece of software with helping her company settle a case by predicting the outcome of various moves during negotiations. “Despite all the books and classes we may have consumed on the art of negotiating, too often we rely largely on educated guesses and gut instinct to dictate our strategy and negotiation tactics,” said Stitch in a statement. She serves as chief litigation counsel at San Antonio–based Rackspace Hosting Inc., which...
February 1, 2014
Associate general counsel Mary Brennan Stitch credited a piece of software with helping her company settle a case by predicting the outcome of various moves during negotiations. “Despite all the books and classes we may have consumed on the art of negotiating, too often we rely largely on educated guesses and gut instinct to dictate our strategy and negotiation tactics,” said Stitch in a statement. She serves as chief litigation counsel at San Antonio–based Rackspace Hosting Inc., which...
